Russia risks new Cold War, West warns as Putin prepares to swallow Crimea

As Russia's president Vladimir Putin prepares to address both houses of his
parliament over the Crimea crisis, Western leaders hope sanctions will deter
de facto annexation

By Roland Oliphant, in Simferopol, Bruno Waterfield in Brussels and Peter Foster in Washington

8:24PM GMT 17 Mar 2014

Vladimir Putin has delivered a swift and uncompromising blow to the imposition of US and EU sanctions by signing a decree recognising Crimea as an independent state, paving the way for him to acknowledge a request from the breakaway region to join the Russian Federation.

Ignoring Western threats of a new Cold War and a “far-reaching” economic blockade, the Russian president will on Tuesday address both houses of the Russian parliament on the crisis, and is expected to welcome Crimea into the fold. The formal process of absorbing the peninsula could be completed within weeks.

The Kremlin announced that Mr Putin had signed a decree recognising Crimea as an independent state, after it voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to leave Ukraine and join Russia.

The US and the European Union responded by issuing targeted sanctions against several key players in the escalating crisis, including senior Kremlin officials, in an attempt to deter the Russian president from absorbing Crimea into the Russian Federation.

President Barack Obama gave warning that “if Russia continues to interfere in Ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions”.

He urged Mr Putin to take the diplomatic path to resolving a dispute that is regarded as the most serious confrontation between East and West since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, warned that the EU would go further than the sanctions imposed yesterday against 21 Russian and Crimean politicians or officials involved in the destabilisation and break-up of Ukraine.

Among those sanctioned were Valentina Matvienko, a close Putin ally who is speaker of the upper house of parliament and Vladislav Surkov, one of Putin’s top ideological aides. The Crimean prime minister Sergei Aksyonov and two other top figures were also targeted.

“The important thing is that we are prepared to move to further measures and there will be long-term costs and consequences for Russia if they continue to approach things in this way,” Mr Hague warned, adding that Europe would also start to look to reduce its energy reliance on Russia.

“I would not describe it as a new Cold War, but that will depend on the course of events over the coming days,” he told the BBC.

At the same time, Royal Air Force Typhoons have been offered to Nato to bolster routine “air policing” efforts along Europe’s eastern frontier following Russian action in Crimea, Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, confirmed.

Last night separatist Crimean leaders travelled to Moscow where they will be feted at parliament on Tuesday.

Before leaving they rushed through a raft of measures to ready the region’s unification with Russia, issuing a formal appeal to Moscow “to accept the Republic of Crimea into the Russian Federation as a new subject with the status of a republic”.

Members also voted to rename their assembly the “State Soviet,” while passing legislation to introduce the Russian rouble as a second currency and to allow Ukrainian troops to join the Crimean - and hence Russian - armed forces. They even shifted time zones, voting for Crimea to move to Moscow time.

A man holds a replica Soviet-era flag as he stands in front of Crimea's parliament in Simferopol (Yuri Kochetkov/ EPA)

In a week of accelerated diplomacy, EU leaders will meet on Thursday in Brussels to discuss longer-term trade and economic sanctions against Russia, while Joe Biden, the US vice president, will visit Poland and the Baltic states to re-emphasise Nato treaty commitments of mutual protection.

Despite the threats and tough-talking, however, the mood in Moscow - where Mr Putin has seen his personal approval ratings soar to a three-year high after his decision to send troops to Crimea - did not appear conciliatory.

Dmitri Rogozin, Russia’s deputy prime minister, openly mocked Mr Obama after he too was named on the US list of sanctioned officials.

“Comrade Obama, what should those who have neither accounts nor property abroad do? Have you not thought about it?” Mr Rogozin said. “I think the decree of the president of the United States was written by some joker.”

In a sign of rising nationalist sentiment, Dmitry Kiselyov, a Kremlin-backed television presenter and the head of Russia’s state-owned media company, rejoiced on air that Russia could “turn the United States into radioactive ash”. He was speaking in front of a screen showing mushroom clouds from a nuclear explosion.

Europe’s foreign ministers were divided over whether to add senior Kremlin advisers on the US sanctions list to the European “restrictive measures” as France and Germany swung behind southern Continental countries urging caution.

The most senior figure on the EU list was Sergei Mironov, a Russian MP, who supports the annexation of Crimea.

Referring to the list, Mr Hague said: “The UK argued for some of these individuals, who we will be ready to add, if necessary. We believe it is important to have a strong response."

While Europe remained relatively cautious, senior US officials promised that the US was prepared to target more important “cronies” of Mr Putin, depending on the Russian president’s actions.

“As events develop, we can and will respond through these sanctions tools that the president has ordered,” an official said.

Crimea was invaded by Russia in the 1870s and then handed to Ukraine in 1954. It remained with Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.